A Different Life
by Raspberry Muffin
Summary: Ok, imagine Samantha had never gotten divorced when she was 18. Enjoy. Another what if... story Completed
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey people. Here's the start of a new story, it's not going to be real long like my others. I was just bored the other day, and then I thought of this. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Stuff you recognise isn't mine.

She got into her car and slammed the door, tears were streaking down her face and all she could feel was pain, she knew she should probably get herself to hospital but she couldn't deal with the questions.

She sniffled, glancing towards the house she had come out from- she had never imgained her life ending up like this. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Her hands visibly shaking, she started the car and drove off down the street. Not once looking back.

17 hours later.

Wednesday 12pm

"We got one." said Special Agent Jack Malone to his team, waving several pieces of paper at them.

Jack and his team, which consisted of Vivian Johnson and Danny Taylor who had been there since the beginning 3 years ago and Martin Fitzgerald who had joined a year ago, worked missing persons in the FBI.

Jack pinned a picture up of their latest missing person, a young blonde woman.

Martin looked at the picture, she was beautiful, no doubt about it. But there seemed to be something hidden deep in her eyes, as she had glanced at the camera, a small, shy smile playing across her face.

Vivian glanced at the photo and did a double take. "I know her." she said.

The others looked at her questioningly.

"Her name's Samantha Spade. A few months ago she looked after Reggie a couple of times. I put an ad in the paper and she answered. I've called her a few times more recently, but she got a new job and couldn't manage to come again. What happened?"

"Never showed up for work for her shift at a restaurant downtown this morning at 9. It was her boss who called us."

Danny frowned, "I gotta say Jack, it sounds like she just decided to take the day off."

"That's what I thought." said Jack. "But her boss seems very worried, she said that Samantha usually always calls if she's not coming in."

"Why did she wait till now to call?" asked Martin.

"She said she didn't want to over react earlier, so she thought she'd wait a couple of hours. But she never turned up so she decided to call us.

"What about the husband?" asked Vivian.

"David Wood. Doesn't say much, they've been married for 10 years."

"So high school sweethearts?" asked Martin.

"I guess so." replied Jack. "Viv, what was she like?"

"Well I only saw her for a few minutes, just to pay her. But she was always polite and everything, but she wasn't very talkative about herself- quite a private person I guess."

"Okay Danny can you run a quick check in morgues and hospitals, then you and I will go and talk to the restaurant. Martin, Viv you go and talk to the husband." said Jack. "Viv, if you think of anything..."

"Of course." said Vivian, grabbing her jacket and heading out of the office with Martin.

A few minutes later Danny came back. "Nothing that matches her description in the morgues or hospitals."

"Okay. Well let's go talk to her boss." said Jack, he looked up at the picture on the missing board and frowned slightly. After years on the job, he knew that even though on the surface things make look fine, but they never were and he wondered what had happened to her and hoped they could help her.

"Sam Spade huh?" grinned Danny as they were walking to the car.

"Yeah, guess her parents liked old Bogart movies." said Jack.

"Kinda ironic, he's the detective, but here we are looking for her." said Danny thoughtfully.

Jack smiled.

Vivian and Martin pulled up outside a small, not very well kept house, not in the best of neighbourhoods either. Vivian raised an eyebrow at Martin, each knowing what the other was thinking, this didn't look like the happiest home.

They walked up the narrow path to the front door, they could hear the noise of the TV through the partially open window.

Vivian rang the doorbell, they waited a few moments but there was no answer. She rang again, this time they heard the TV turn off and a few seconds later the door opened, revealing a man they assumed to be David Woods.

He looked at them through bleary eyes. He was tall, and could be quite an imposing figure. He was quite good looking, and you could imagine that him and Samantha had made a cute high school couple. Young, full of dreams. But looking past him into the untidy house, and smelling the stench of alcohol on his breath, they guessed that this couple weren't living the American dream.

"David Wood?"

He nodded, "Yeah. What's it to you?"

"I'm Special Agent Johnson, and this is Special Agent Fitzgerald. We're with the FBI. Can we talk to you inside?"

He nodded still looking confused as to why they were there. He lead them into the living room, where he collapsed back onto the couch. "Have a seat." he said.

Vivian and Martin sat down on some chairs opposite the couch.

"What's this about?" he asked.

"It's about your wife, Samantha." said Vivian.

"What about her?" asked David, his eyes shifting from Vivian to Martin.

"She's missing." said Martin. "She didn't show up for work this morning. When did you last see her?"

"Yesterday, I was working the night shift last night, so I saw her for a bit before I left." said David.

"What time was that?" asked Vivian, her pen at the ready.

"Around 7 in the evening."

Martin glanced at his watch, it was 1pm, and she had been missing since around 7 on last night.

"Then she's been missing for about 18 hours."

"Where do you work?" put in Vivian.

David looked slightly puzzled by the question, "As a security guard over at the mall on 65th and Eastern."

"Do you think anything was bothering her?" asked Vivian.

David shook his head. "She seemed fine."

"Have you noticed anyone suspicious hanging around the house recently?" asked Martin, him and Viv carefully watching his reactions.

"No not round here."

"Does Samantha drive into work?"

"Yeah." he replied.

"Has Samantha said anything to you that may be relevant to why she's missing?"

He shook his head again. "No nothing."

Wow, this guys talkative, thought Martin to himself.

"How is your relationship?" asked Vivian.

"What's that got to do with her being missing?" he asked, again looking between Vivian and Martin.

"We have to find out what we can about her, it helps us to figure out what may have happened and where she is."

"We get on fine." was his answer.

"So you aren't having any problems?" pressed Vivian, idly wondering if the smell of alcohol on his breath was a regular occurrence, and if had anything to do with why she was missing.

"What kind of question is that?" he asked agitated, seemingly getting nervous.

Vivian and Martin exchanged glances, and Vivian looked at him expectantly.

"No we weren't."

"If Samantha was running do you have any idea where she would go?"

"What would Samantha be running from?" asked David, his voice rising. "Do you think she would be running from me?"

"We're not saying that. We have to explore all the possibilities." said Vivian calmly.

"No I don't know. Are we done yet?"

"Just one more question. What about her family, would she go to them?" asked Martin, having noticed the lack of photographs around the room.

"She doesn't talk to her mom, and I don't know about her sister." he sighed. "Look I got a lot to do."

Really? Like what, having another drink? Martin was tempted to ask, David not seeming like he did much. But he resisted, knowing it would probably just agitate him more. "Can we just have their telephone number please?" he asked instead.

David nodded and walked over to the desk. Reaching into the drawer, he took out a small address book and ripped out one of the pages and handed it to Vivian.

"Thank you for your time Mr. Wood. We'll be in touch." said Vivian, her and Martin making their way out. As Martin was walking through the hall to the door, his eye caught another picture of Samantha. She looked younger, in her late teens perhaps. She was gazing at the camera a happy smile on her face, her eyes full of hopes and dreams so different from the picture they had at the office. He nudged Vivian. She saw the picture and smiled sadly. What changed? he thought to himself, although he was sure he could guess at what it was.

"What do you make of Mr. Wood then?" asked Vivian once they were in the car.

"Well he's definitely not telling us everything. Honestly, I wouldn't blame her if she ran just to get away from him."

"He didn't really seem to care, well he didn't show much emotion about his wife being missing."

Martin nodded, "Yeah I did notice. He wasn't very helpful either. Did he strike you as the violent type?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I definitely wouldn't say no." Vivian sighed.

"Did you ever hear about him or see him when Samantha looked after Reggie?"

Vivian shook her head. "I knew she was married, only because I saw the ring. She didn't talk about it, and I didn't want to pry. As I said she was quite a private person."

Martin nodded. "I hope Jack and Danny found something useful."


	2. Chapter 2

"How was Samantha yesterday?" Jack asked Samantha's boss, Kelly Smith. Samantha worked at a small restaurant downtown where she was one of the chefs.

"She seemed fine yesterday, she was her usual self."

"So you haven't noticed anything that may be bothering her?" Danny questioned.

Kelly frowned. "Well last friday, she'd just started her shift and was in the kitchen..."

_Flashback_

_Samantha stood at the stove, stirring something in a pan when Kelly came in._

"_Hey Samantha. I'm doing mondays order list. Were you going to do the chicken or the fish special."_

"_We decided on the chicken." replied Samantha. There was something in her voice that made Kelly stop writing and go over to her._

"_Sam, you okay?"_

_Samantha looked at her, and it as obvious that she had been crying._

"_Yeah I'm fine." She smiled quickly. "Just been chopping some onions."_

_Kelly glanced around, not seeing any onions. But she knew Samantha well enough to not try and push the subject._

_End _

"We've gotten to be quite good friends but Samantha's one of those people who doesn't tend to share their feelings. She'll usually keep things to herself, so I didn't push it. But she was distant for the rest of that day."

Jack nodded, noting some things down on his notepad.

"Have you met her husband?" asked Danny.

Kelly's face darkened for a moment. "Yeah I have."

"You don't like him?" asked Jack curiously.

"I don't know him that well...but I think he hits her."

"What makes you say that?" asked Danny raising an eyebrow at Jack.

"Well a couple of times she's had these bruises on her arms, she said she'd tripped coming downstairs but I don't believe her- she's not a clumsy person. And not too long ago she had a bruise on her face, she made some feeble excuse about walking into a lamp post. I'm sure she's had more, just not so noticeable."

"Right." said Danny. "Do you think that he could have anything to do with her disappearance?"

Kelly's face paled and her eyes widened. "God, I didn't even think of that. I'm not sure...maybe? I don't know."

"Okay." said Jack. "Thanks for your help. Oh one more thing, if she was running do you have any idea where she might go. A friends perhaps?"

"She's friends with the others that work here, but I don't think she knows them well enough to go to one of them but I'm not sure." Kelly replied.

"Thanks again." said Jack.

"You will find her right?." pleaded Kelly.

"We will do our best." said Danny smiling. "Thanks for your time."

20 hours missing.

"So what did you find from the husband?" Jack asked Vivian and Danny once they were back at the office. They were all seated around the conference table, going over what they had found.

Vivian and Martin exchanged glances, "He doesn't seem to be the greatest guy." began Vivian carefully. "He had been drinking quite a lot, judging from the smell on him."

"He didn't seem to care that much that she was missing." added Martin.

"Do you think he was capable of being abusive?" asked Danny.

Vivian sighed. "I think so. Why?"

"Her boss mentioned that Sam sometimes showed up to work with bruises on her arms or face."

Vivian smiled sadly, "It doesn't seem like she has a very happy life."

Danny nodded in agreement. "You find anything else?" he asked after a pause.

"We found out she drives to work, so we should run the DMV, see if we can find the car." said Vivian.

"I'm on it." said Martin.

"David said she doesn't talk to her mom, but he's not sure about her sister. So if she was running she might go there."

"You got the sister's number?" asked Jack.

Vivian nodding, pulling the piece of paper out of her notepad. "You want me to call her sister?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, see if she's heard from Samantha recently or seen her."

"I got the DMV." said Martin, looking up from his computer screen. "It's a Ford focus. Errr nothing recent has come up on it. Got the registration number, so guess we just have to see if we can find it."

"Danny, can you look through her phone records over the past few weeks?" asked Jack.

"Sure." replied Danny, glancing at her picture on the white board before heading over to his desk.

Martin stood up and walked over to the white board, writing down the other things they had found out. The longing and sadness in her eyes haunted him, and he wanted more than anything to find her and make the longing go away. There was such a difference to the other picture, he sighed.

"I think I got something." called Danny excitedly.

"What?" asked Jack, him and Martin going over to Danny's desk.

"Well you know Kelly said that she was acting really distant last Friday? That morning she had spent about 10 minutes on the phone to a doctors surgery. I ran the address, and it's just a few blocks from where she lives."

"Good. Danny, can you and Martin head over there."

"Okay." said Danny.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hope you're all enjoying it! Thanks to the reviewers!

Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine.

Once they had left, Jack glanced over at Vivian who was still on the phone. Sighing, he started to run a credit check, seeing if she had bought any tickets anywhere or anything. From what they had found out so far, he would assume she had run away, that she couldn't deal with an alcoholic, abusive husband any more, but they still had to find her.

A few moments later Vivian came over to him.

"What you got?" Jack asked her, glancing at her curiously.

"Her sister, Beth said that she hasn't seen Samantha in years, but they talk occasionally on the phone. The last time was about 2 months ago, but she hasn't heard from her recently. Another thing, she never liked David."

"Did you find out anything about the mother?" asked Jack.

Vivian shook her head. "She said that after Samantha left, they didn't really stay in contact. Apparently they never got on that well, but she didn't say why."

"Anything that would help us find Samantha?"

Vivian sighed frustrated, "Not really no. I'm going to call her mom, I know it's a long shot but it's worth a try."

"Okay." said Jack smiling tightly getting back to running a credit check.

A few minutes later Vivian walked back over a frown on her face. "I just talked to Joyce, her mom. She hasn't heard from her, she didn't seem to care much either."

Jack winced in sympathy, "Poor girl. You got a mom who doesn't care about you, and a husband like that? I'm starting to wonder why she stuck with him for so long."

Vivian nodded. "Must be tough, trying to live like that." she glanced at the picture, "She always struck me as quite sad when I saw her."

"What about the father?" asked Jack, the thought suddenly striking him.

"According to the sister, he left when Samantha was 6, and she was 9. You find anything?"

Jack shook his head, "She hasn't bought a ticket anywhere, and there's nothing to indicate that she took out a large amount of cash."

"Do you think we should look deeper into the husband?" asked Vivian.

"Maybe. Did you find out where he works?" asked Jack.

"Yeah he's..." Vivian flipped through her little notepad. "A security guard at that new mall, umm 65th and Eastern."

"Let's try and contact them, check out his story."

"Sure." said Vivian walking back over to her desk.

"Jack!" called Vivian moments later. "Interesting information, David Wood didn't have a night shift there last night, which means he lied."

"Wonder why he felt the need to lie?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "Let's bring him in."

About 25 minutes later Danny and Martin came back, where they met Vivian who was just about to go and see what was happening in the interrogation room where they were holding David.

"Viv, what's going on?" asked Martin.

"David was lying about working last night, so we brought him in- Jack's just talking to him. What did you find?"

"The doctor said that Samantha came in last friday, just after they spoke on the phone. And turns out that Samantha is pregnant."

"You think the husband knows?" asked Vivian.

Danny shrugged. "I think once she found out about the baby she decided she didn't want the kid to grow up with a violent dad so she took off."

"Do you think the kid was definitely his? Maybe he found out something and decided to do something about it." suggested Vivian.

Martin frowned, "Nothing anyone said hinted that she was cheating on him."

"I agree." added Danny. "It just doesn't seem to fit...I mean I know apparently he's been beating on her for years...but I dunno, it doesn't seem that way."

Vivian sighed, "Yeah I guess, she didn't really seem like she would. Can you check her old medical records, find out how serious it's been. We need everything we can."

"Alright." said Martin.

"I'll go tell Jack what you found out."

"I'll come." said Danny.

Vivian and Danny walked down towards the interrogation room, while Martin walked back into the bullpen.

Vivian picked up the phone to the room to call Jack out.

"You get anything from him?" asked Vivian.

Jack rolled his eyes, "He admitted to lying about not working last night, but he's not saying anything else. What did you find?" he looked at Danny.

"Samantha found out she was pregnant, that's why I'm guessing she was so distant on Friday."

"Do you think he knows?" Jack asked nodding through the window at David.

"We don't know." replied Danny.

"Well let's find out." said Jack, heading back in there.

"Why did you lie about working last night?" asked Jack again.

"I-I don't know."

"C'mon David, what have you got to hide?"

"Nothing!" he said defensively.

"Then why did you lie?"

David sighed. "I don't know."

"Your wife is missing Mr. Wood, we have to find her."

"I know that." replied David.

"Well?" Jack sighed. "I have a theory about why you lied. Want to hear it?"

David looked at him challengingly. "Go on then."

"Yes. Your wife told you something you didn't want to hear...that she's pregnant. Maybe you thought it wasn't yours then your temper got the better of you. What did you do, yell? Hit her? Then what? You realise you'd gone too far?"

David sat there, glaring defiantly at Jack. "Alright. She told me, I wasn't too pleased with the idea and we got into an argument and she just left."

Jack raised an eyebrow not fully believing him, there was a subtle glint in his eye that Jack didn't trust. "Do you know where she went?"

David shook his head. "No I don't."

"Okay." said Jack, glancing at him then leaving the room.

"So?" asked Vivian when he came out.

"He says that they had an argument last night and she left but he doesn't know where to."

"You don't believe him?" asked Danny.

Jack sighed. "Not really. He's definitely hiding something."

"You think he did something to her?" asked Vivian.

"I don't know." Jack shrugged. "But we have to find her, if he did do something..." Jack didn't finish his sentence, not wanting to think about what could have happened.

"Martin is looking through her medical records, if he is abusive then we'll find out how serious." replied Vivian.

Jack nodded. "Okay, you see what Martin's found."

"What about David?"

Jack sighed and glanced through the window he was sitting there, completely calmly. Not showing any emotion. "We're going to have to let him go..we don't have anything to hold him on. You two head back to the bullpen. I'll tell him."

"Right." said Vivian.


	4. Chapter 4

Enjoy! Thanks for the reviews, glad you like it!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

"Martin, you got anything?" Danny asked.

Martin sighed, "Recently the only serious thing that comes up...well the only thing that needed treatment was disclocated shoulder and several broken ribs, from falling down stairs. When she was younger, 18, she was in a pretty major car accident and suffered a miscarriage."

"You think it was David that she was pregnant to before?" asked Danny.

"The timing seems about right from what we know." replied Vivian. Inwardly she sighed, poor girl suffering a miscarriage that young, and having to live with that man. It seemed like the abuse had been going on for a while then.

"What did the husband say?" asked Martin.

"He admitted to lying, and said that they had an argument last night and that she left." said Danny.

Vivian sighed. "We have to find her." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "She's been missing 21 hours."

"If she left of her own free will, we may not find her." said Martin.

Vivian nodded. "Yeah I know." Vivian sighed. If you had told her a few months ago that she would be looking for Samantha, she wouldn't have believed you. She had liked Samantha, she had seemed a genuinely kind and friendly person. And she had been great with Reggie, Reggie usually disliked babysitters- he felt he was too old. But him and Samantha had got on great. She had a way with kids. She had always prided herself on being observant, being able to pick up on the samll things, she couldn't believe she didn't notice any signs of abuse. Well, she guessed Samantha had learnt to hide it very well.

Jack came back in. "Well David went home. We're just going to have to keep an eye on him."

Vivian wrote the argument onto the timeline on the missing persons board. "Okay, you're a pregnant woman running away from your abusive husband, where do you go?" she asked the others.

They looked stumped.

"Well I would have said friends, but we don't know about any." said Danny after a pause.

"I think we should talk to the people she works with again." said Jack. "Danny, you and Martin want to head over there."

"Sure." replied Martin grabbing his coat.

"We'll be back soon." said Danny.

"Viv, what do you think?"

Vivian sighed, "I gotta say, she could be anywhere. And if she doesn't want to be found...I doubt we will."

"I know." replied Jack. "She's probably better off with a husband like that."

Vivian nodded. She looked at Samantha Spade's picture. "She looks so sad." she commented. "Imagine having to spend 10 years of your life living like that. I never knew, she hid it well."

"I wonder why she didn't leave sooner."

Vivian raised an eyebrow. "I'd guess it would be fear, you hear about things like this all the time. Usually it's fear that they will catch you trying to leave, or fear that they will find you- God knows what could happen. Let's just hope that David doesn't find Samantha. And she obviously isn't that close with her family, so it's not like she could really go to them for help."

Jack nodded, he smiled sadly and patted Vivian on the back before going to his office, leaving Vivian looking sadly at the picture wondering what they were missing.

"Hi, did you find her?" Kelly asked Danny recognising him from when he had been there earlier.

Danny shook his head. "We're still looking, we found some things that might help but we still need to ask you a few questions."

"Sure." she replied, leading them to an empty table at the restaurant.

"Firstly, this is my partner Agent Fitzgerald. We were wondering if there was any possibility that Samantha was having an affair?"

"God no." Kelly shook her head. "She wouldn't. Why?"

"You know you said that she was acting different last Friday?"

She nodded.

"She found out she was pregnant."

"Oh." said Kelly shocked.

"Her husband found out about this, and he said they had an argument and we were wondering if the argument was about the baby's father." carried on Danny. "He said that she left after the argument."

"She definitely wasn't having an affair, I'm postive." said Kelly determinedly.

Danny nodded. "Okay."

"Who are Samantha's friends here? I'm going to need to talk to them, see if Samantha contacted them." said Martin.

"Like I said earlier, she's not extremely close with any of them, but she talks to Claire Westford and Sophie Boyd the most. Sophie's away visiting her family, she's due back late this evening- she'll be in around 8 tomorrow. Claire is in the kitchen." said Kelly.

"Alright. Excuse me." said Martin heading towards the kitchen.

Kelly sighed and looked at Danny. "Do you think David did something to her?"

"I honestly don't know." he replied. "Can you think of anything at all? Please."

She frowned. "No, I'm sorry."

"Okay, thank you. If you do please call." he said handing her their calling card.

"I will."

"Claire Westford?" asked Martin going into the kitchen.

A young girl standing there nodded.

"I'm Agent Fitzgerald, with the FBI." he said showing his badge. "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Samantha. As I'm sure you know she's missing."

She nodded.

"Has she contacted you recently?"

"Not recently, I don't see her much out of work."

"Has she been acting strangely over the past few days?"

She shook her head, "She seemed to be herself, it's hard to tell. I mean with some people you can tell, because they close off or whatever. But Samantha's never really been that open, she's a great friend and all but she's quite private I guess you could say. I don't think she trusts people that easily, I mean she doesn't have many really close friends that she would confide in a lot. She's quite close with Sophie."

"Right." said Martin. "Have you met David, her husband?"

She shook her head again. "No, but I once heard Kelly and Sophie talking about him. I didn't get much, but they were worried that he was hurting Samantha."

"Okay. Thank you." said Martin.

"She'll be alright though?" she asked worriedly.

"We hope so." replied Martin with a small smile.

Martin met up with Danny, who was by the car on the phone. He carried on talking for a few moments, signalling to Martin to wait.

"That was Viv, they found the car. It was found broken down on the side of the road about 15 blocks from here. Viv said the district PD found it, there's no sign of her. They think she got out and walked."

"So another dead end." sighed Martin.

"Yeah. I said we'd come back to talk to Sophie tomorrow morning, hopefully that will give us something." said Danny getting into the drivers seat of the car.

"What did you get from Claire?" he asked once they were in and began driving back to the office.

"Not a lot. Samantha didn't get in touch with her for help though."

"Looks like Sophie's our last option. Too bad we have to wait till tomorrow to talk to her." said Danny.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Enjoy! Only one more chapter left after.

Disclaimer: Only own the plot!

Thursday 9.15am.

38 hours missing.

"That was Kelly, Samantha's boss on the phone." started Jack. "Sophie was due to come in at 8, and she didn't show up. Danny and Martin can you go over to her apartment, it's West 28th. Block 3, apartment 4b."

Danny nodded, scribbling it down in his notepad.

"Miss Boyd, FBI open up!" called Danny through the door. There was no answer.

"Miss Boyd." called Martin. "Open it up." he said to the super.

Danny and Martin went through the open door, and saw a woman lying unconscious on the floor.

Danny looked at Martin shocked and went to check her pulse. "Got a pulse, but we'll need an ambulance."

While Martin called an ambulance, Danny got on the phone to Jack, explaining what they had found and that they were going to the hospital to find out what happened.

About an hour later, Danny and Martin were in the hospital. Sophie had woken up, and they were trying to find out what had happened.

"Miss Boyd?" asked Danny. Sophie was sitting in the hospital bed, the doctors had checked her over and she was fine- no concussion or anything. "I'm Agent Taylor, and this is Agent Fitzgerald." He showed her his badge.

"What happened?"

She looked at him warily, as if unsure that she should trust them and tell them.

"You can trust us." Danny promised reading her mind. "Has this got something to do with Samantha Spade?"

Sophie looked puzzled. "You know Samantha?"

"We've been working on her case for the past few days." answered Martin.

"We're just trying to find her." added Danny. "Please if you know anything..."

She sighed. "It was David."

"He did this?" asked Martin, gesturing to her bruised face.

Sophie nodded. "He was looking for Samantha, she left him a few days ago. I got back from visiting family late last night, and she turned up a few hours later...she was so upset, and scared. I'd never seen her like that before."

"Was she scared of David?" asked Martin.

"Yeah, she said that he had been so angry."

"Did she tell you why she left?" pushed Danny gently.

Sophie's eyes filled with tears and she nodded.

"She had several bruises on her face that I saw as soon as I opened the door, so I kind of guessed. She told me what had happened. She said that she had found out she was pregnant and she had decided to tell David. But uhh...she said he didn't take it to well and he hit her and pushed her down the stairs."

Danny and Martin looked at each other shocked.

"That's when she had enough and decided to leave. She told me that when he'd pushed her down the stairs...it caused her to lose the baby." she paused, sniffing slightly. "We'd been sitting in my living room for a while, just talking- trying to figure out what she could do. Then he showed up, I don't know how he found out where she was but he did. He forced himself in and started shouting. We tried to get him to calm down y'know. But he grabbed Samantha, and I tried to pull him away. That's when he hit me...I remember I was sort of dazed...Samantha got angry at him for hitting me, but he just snapped and kept hitting her. I tried to stop him but he hit me again. I fell on the floor, and I saw him grab Samantha and then I guess I passed out."

"So you think he took her?" asked Danny when she had finished.

"I think so." she replied.

"Any ideas where he would go?" asked Martin.

"Ummm..." she paused. "Sorry I can't think of anywhere- I don't really know him."

"Okay." said Danny getting ready to leave. "Thanks for talking to us."

"You will find her right?" she asked worriedly.

"We hope so." answered Danny.

Sophie sighed, "Kelly and I suspected he may have been abusive...but I suppose we didn't want it to be true so we just left it."

"From what we found out, Samantha did keep it very secret."

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, she's never talked much about herself, guess know we know why."

"We'll let you know when there are any developments." said Danny.

"Thanks for your help." said Martin.

Danny took out his phone as soon as they got out of the hospital and dialled the office.

"Jack? We talked to Sophie in the hospital. She said Samantha turned up at her place late last night, and later David turned up. She said he got mad, and he was the one who attacked her. She also said that she thinks he took Samantha. You know that arguement that David and Samantha had, that made her leave? Well apparently David hit Samantha and pushed her downstairs, which made her lose the baby."

Danny listened to Jack more a moment, "Okay. We'll do that then come back to the office."

Martin looked at him questioningly when he hung up the phone. "So what are we doing?"

"Jack said to go to their house and have another chat to David."

Martin nodded. "Right."

"What did Danny say?" asked Vivian when Jack turned back around.

Jack sighed. "David lied about the arguement they had. According to the friend, Sophie. He got more violent and pushed her down the stairs- which made her lose the baby."

"God, poor her." said Vivian, her eyes involuntarily filling with tears for Samantha. She couldn't imagine the heartache that would cause, and to go through that twice.

Jack nodded. "He somehow found that she was at Sophie's last night, and turned up there. He attacked Sophie, and apparently took Samantha. Danny and Martin are going to check out the house."

Vivian sighed, "She was so good with Reggie. She would have made a great mom."

Jack smiled sadly, patting Vivian's shoulder. "We'll find her."

"If he did take her...God knows what he's done. We don't know what he could be capable of, what he's thinking." said Vivian with a heavy heart, not wanting to accept the fact that they may not be able to save Samantha.

Jack sighed and looked sadly at Samantha's picture on the missing board.

Not knowing what to say he patted Vivian's shoulder again and went into his office.

Danny and Martin pulled up outside the house. Getting out cautiously, they went up the path, noting that his car wasn't there.

"You think he's in?" Martin asked.

"Doesn't look like it." Danny replied. "Let's try."

Danny walked up to the door, followed by Martin. He knocked loudly, calling "FBI, open up!"

There was no answer. They tried a couple more times, before leaving to head back to the office.

40 hours missing.

"There was no one at the house." said Danny to Vivian and Jack who were all gathered around the conference table.

"So David has taken Samantha somewhere?" questioned Vivian.

Martin and Danny nodded. Vivian sighed sadly, their nods confirming her fears. Jack glanced at her concerned. "You still okay to work on this case?" He had noticed her becoming more and more involved in the case, and getting more and more disappointed when a lead was shot down. Almost as if she blamed herself for not noticing anything months ago (even though there was nothing she could have done). He knew that everyone had cases which would affect them, and this seemed to be one of Vivian's, partly because she knew the missing person. He had assumed that as Vivian hadn't known her well, she would be okay to work on the case. But now he was starting to wonder.

She nodded determinedly, "Of course Jack." she replied. "So where do we look?"

Jack continued to give her a concerned look for a moment, "Well, Viv can you talk to the sister again, ask if she knows anywhere they may go- holiday place or something?"

She nodded, and hurried over to the phone.

"Danny, can you put an APB out on the car. See if we can catch them on the move. Martin, can you do some deeper checks on the husband- go back to the house with Danny see if you can find anything."

Martin nodded, going over to tell Danny.

Jack sighed heavily. He knew they were running out of time, the husband had her and God knows what he was capable of doing. They had to find her, fast.

"Jack, we're going to the house now." said Martin.

Jack nodded, "Okay, keep in touch."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Here's the last chapter, hope you like!

Disclaimer: Only own the story.

"Okay." said Danny when they got inside the house. "You want to take downstairs?"

"Sure." Martin nodded. He saw the same picture of Samantha that he had seen before and smiled unhappily, promising to find her. He went into the living room, and found the address book that David had got the phone numbers from earlier. He flicked through it looking for anything that may lead them to Samantha. Sighing when he found nothing he put it back and started looking around the room again.

Meanwhile Danny was in the bedroom, he noticed a small photograph on the dressing table. It was of Samantha and David standing outside a small cabin. He took it down to show Martin.

"Hey Martin." he called coming down the stairs.

"You got something?" Martin called back.

"I might," he walked over to Martin and showed him the photo. "Doesn't this look like one of those old cabins up in the Catskills?"

Martin took it from him and looked hard. "Yeah it does." He said brightening. "Well we got a lead, but we need the address."

"I'll call Jack and ask him to see if they or their families own any property up there." said Danny.

"Hey Jack." said Danny once Jack had picked up his phone. "We may have found something. There's a picture of them outside a place we think is in the catskills. Can you see if they own any property there, or if any of their family does."

"Sure." said Jack. "Just give me a minute. I'll call you back."

"Right. bye." said Danny hanging up.

"Well?" questioned Martin.

"Jack's going to call back." said Danny. "Did you find anything?"

Martin shook his head. "I looked through her address book, but that didn't help."

Danny sighed. "I hope the lead from the photo gets us somewhere."

Martin nodded. He carried looking round the room, Danny following suite.

Danny's phone rang suddenly startling them.

"Taylor." he said picking it up. "Okay I got it. We're on our way." he said after a pause. He turned to Martin. "Viv talked to the sister, she has a cabin up in the catskills which they often stayed at. We're meeting them up there. I got the address."

"Let's go then." said Martin leaving the house.

The drive up there seemed to take forever, Danny and Martin kept anxiously glancing at the clock, knowing that with every minute that passed they were probably getting further from finding her safe and unharmed.

They eventually pulled up outside the cabin where they saw Jack, Vivian and several other Agents and police. They jumped out quickly hurrying over to the others.

"Anything?" asked Danny.

Vivian shook her head. "We just got here. Jack's sending some in the house now see if they're in there."

Martin nodded watching the police anxiously. After a few minutes the police came over to them shaking their heads.

"The place is clear." said one of them.

Danny sighed, he had been so sure that this was the place. Vivian smiled comfortingly, placing her hand on his arm. "We'll find her." she said.

Danny nodded, casually looking around at the edge of the surrounding woodland. His sharp eyes caught glimpse of a figure emerging and he nudged Vivian.

"Hey, look." he said. His words caught the attention of the others who all looked in that direction. The man came out from the woods, his eyes widening at the sight of all the FBI and police. He froze for a moment, a guilty look on his face.

"That's him." said Vivian to Jack, her eyes fixed on him.

"FBI, get your hands up." he yelled, his gun immediately trained on him, along with the rest of the police.

David jumped slightly, looking behind him as if he was considering making a run for it. Danny and Martin exchanged glances.

Jack and a police officer started approaching him cautiously. "Mr Woods, we are placing you under arrest for the assualt of Sophie Boyd and assualt and kidnapping of Samantha Spade." Jack began, the other policeman getting out his handcuffs to put them on David. He began to struggle as they were put on him- putting up a fight, and yelling "Get off me."

"Where is Samantha?" demanded Jack once David had been subdued.

He said nothing, staying silent.

"Where is she?" snarled Jack again, pushing him up against the side of the police car.

"Jack." warned Vivian coming over to them.

"It's fine." he said. "Now answer the question."

David was silent for a moment, Jack tightened his grip on him causing David to wince in pain. "Okay, okay. She's back there some where." he said nodding towards to woods behind him.

"Take him away." said Jack handing him over to the police officer. "Okay, you guys go down that way." he said gesturing to Danny, Martin and a few of the police. "Viv, you're with me, and you three too- we'll go that way." he said to the other police.

"Samantha Spade!" yelled Danny walking through the woods, looking hard for any sign.

"Samantha Spade!" he heard an echo of Martin from further away. He sighed, and kept walking followed by the police.

"Samantha Spade! This is the FBI!" called Vivian, scanning the ground.

She looked over at Jack, who caught her glance and shook his head.

"Samatha!" yelled Jack carrying on walking ahead, hoping to find her alive.

Danny carried on walking, slightly away from the police towards the deeper part of the wood. Feeling a sudden cold breeze, he shivered pulling his jacket around him. Is she was lying out here somewhere, the cold wouldn't help. He just prayed that they wouldn't be too late, he hated it when they didn't managed to save them, it was those times that he wished he drank.

He caught a glimpse of something blue out of the corner of his eye and called Martin. "Hey, I think I got something." he carried on walking towards it, hearing Martin and the others following.

He gasped when he saw her, she was lying sprawled on the leaves and dirt. It had been the blue of her jeans that he had seen. He rushed forward, and knelt down beside her. "I've found her!" he yelled. "We need an ambulance." he vaugely heard someone in the background radioing for one. Martin came and knelt down on the other side of her.

Danny reached out cautiously to check for a pulse, almost recoiling in shock when he felt how cold her skin was. He breathed a sigh of relief to feel a beat. He nodded at Martin, smiling slightly. He looked over her, she had bruises and blood everywhere. Her usually beautiful face was swollen and cut. He cringed, wondering how anyone could inflict such pain on someone they supposedly loved.

"The ambulance can't come this far in, we're going to have to carry her out to the house." said the policeman who had radioed for an ambulance.

"Okay. I got her." said Danny carefully lifting her up into his arms.

He put her onto the stretcher once they got out of the woods, the paramedics immediately going to work on stabilising her. As soon as Vivian caught a glimpse of her, she gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh God." she murmured.

Jack put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She'll be okay."

Vivian nodded, watching the ambulance drive away. "Yeah, I hope so."

The next day Vivian went to visit Samantha, she paused outside the door for a moment. Knocking gently, she went in.

"Hey." she said.

Samantha looked up in surprise. "Vivian?" she smiled. "Hi."

"How are you?" asked Vivian.

"I'm okay I guess." she looked at Vivian shyly, "They told me that you were the ones who found me...so thank you."

Vivian smiled, slightly embarrassed and unsure how to answer. "You don't need to thank me, it's what I do."

"Yeah I know." she sighed. Vivian's heart broke for the lost look that came over her face.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"When I get out of here I'm going to stay with Sophie for a while...and just sort some things out."

Vivian nodded. "I hope it works out, and good luck with everything."

"Thanks." Samantha smiled.

"If you need anything call me."

"Okay." Vivian turned to go. "Hey Vivian, if you ever need a babysitter..."

"I'll call you. Bye." she smiled at Samantha before walking out the room.

"Bye." Samantha sighed again and lay back on the pillows. She breathed in deeply, wondering what she was going to do. She could have a fresh start, she smiled happily. She would finally be able to move on, and live her life.


End file.
